Thanks for the dialogue these past seven days on preaching. Had to add one more thing.
My goal as a preacher to give messages that help people make the link between God and life. I want it to help. But how do I know my preaching is helpful? How do we know our preaching is helpful?
I think preaching can be helpful in multiple ways. For example, last night I was reading a newsletter we got in the mail. It was on teaching kids how to handle money. After I read it, I was glad I did, but then I stopped to ask why. It actually had no new information for me, so why was I grateful? I figured it out: I don’t often read on the subject, and the newsletter affirmed what I already knew. It let me know my approach was okay. It affirmed and confirmed my direction. It was helpful because it told me I was moving in the right direction.
Got me thinking about the helpfulness of preaching more generally. What makes investing 30-45 minutes in listening to a message "worthwhile?" How would we preachers know if we hit the mark? Just thinking in pencil. Would love your feedback.
Content can be helpful if it:
- Brings a ‘new’ truth (didn’t know that) or discarded truth to light.
- Brings a fresh angle to a truth and makes people see God in a fresh light.
- Reminds people of a truth they know, affirming or correcting their direction.
- Shows the relevance of truth in current culture and life.
Application is helpful if it:
- Provides a practical step or steps people can follow to put it into practice in the next 24 hours.
- Shifts thinking deeply enough that people can’t think of things in the same way again (paradigm shifting).
- Shows how a particular truth will change how we live in our time and culture.
If a sermon does one or more of these things, I think I’d find it helpful. Not just true…but helpful.
What do you think? Do these resonate? Any other categories? Could you simplify these to make them easier to use?
